8 SURPRISES AFTER FREE AGENCY MAYHEM
Eight of the biggest offseason surprises (through Sunday) beyond the Shea Weber-for-P.K. Subban and Taylor Hall-for-Adam Larsson blockbuster trades and Steven Stamkos’ decision to stay with the Tampa Bay Lightning:
Hall is gone from the Edmonton Oilers yet Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov are still there.
The Colorado Avalanche haven’t made a bold trade. What were all of those rumors about?
General managers continue to hand out longer-term deals to older players. The salaries are reasonable, but offering five-, sixand seven-year deals to players over 30 years is asking for salary cap issues down the road. Andrew Ladd, 30, has a new seven-year deal with the New York Islanders. Frans Nielsen, 32, was given six years by the Detroit Red Wings. David Backes, 32, got five years from the Boston Bruins. Loui Eriksson, 30, ended up with a six-year deal with the Vancouver Canucks.
The Anaheim Ducks haven’t done much. There still is time. With the team still trying to get restricted free agent defenseman Hampus Lindholm re-signed, trade rumors have swirled around defenseman Cam Fowler. If you count Shea Theodore, the Ducks have nine NHL defensemen. They need a few more goals. They were 17th in scoring last season. Maybe the plan is to trade Fowler for a scorer.
Jason Demers didn’t get $5 million per year. Demers, a quality defenseman, was the best blue-liner in the free agent marketplace. But $5 million in average annual value would have been overpaying. He got a five-year, $22.5 million deal from the Florida Panthers.
The Chicago Blackhawks traded forward Andrew Shaw. The Blackhawks don’t play a physical style, but Shaw, who was dealt to the Montreal Canadiens, could get under an opponent’s skin, particularly in a playoff series.
The St. Louis Blues are on the subtraction side of the ledger. The Blues were a very good team last season, reaching the Western Conference final, and Backes was the glue and leader. That’s a substantial loss. But you can’t have it both ways. You can’t criticize general managers for giving out too many years to aging players and then find fault with Blues general manager Doug Armstrong for letting Backes leave. You have to appreciate the difficult decision he made. But the Blues also lost forward Troy Brouwer and traded goalie Brian Elliott, leaving Jake Allen as the guy in net. They did sign forward David Perron and goalie Carter Hutton. However, work must be done to make this team as strong as it was in April.
Defenseman Justin Schultz, 26, is still available. He is a powerplay performer and proved for the Pittsburgh Penguins during the Stanley Cup Final that he can play safe enough to stay in the lineup. He won’t command much in the way of salary. Wouldn’t he be a reasonable roll of the dice in Boston, Detroit or Colorado?
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